Exodus 30:3

30:1-10 The altar of incense represented the Son of God in his human nature, and the incense burned thereon typified his pleading for his people. The continual intercession of Christ was represented by the daily burning of incense thereon, morning and evening. Once every year the blood of the atonement was to be applied to it, denoting that the intercession of Christ has all its virtue from his sufferings on earth, and that we need no other sacrifice or intercessor but Christ alone.

Hence this altar is sometimes called the golden altar, Numbers 4:11 this may figure the deity of Christ, whose head is as the most fine gold, and is in the divine nature, in the form of God, and is the brightness of his glory, and possessed of the same perfections; or rather the glorification of his human nature in heaven, where he is highly exalted, and the preciousness of his intercession, which is always powerful and prevalent, and the duration of it: the top thereof, and the sides thereof, round about, and the horns thereof: all and each of them were covered with gold; this altar had a top, when the altar of burnt offering had none, but its hollow place was filled up with earth at every encampment; so Jarchi observes: this was not a grate, as the Vulgate Latin version renders it, for here were neither blood nor ashes to be let through; but it was a flat covering like the roof of a house, as the word signifies, on which was set a golden dish, with live coals and incense burning on them; and which, when burnt, was carried away: and the sides are the four sides of the frame, it being a square, or the two sides and two ends of it; and the horns, the four horns at each corner, all were covered with plates of gold; so that this altar was a richer and more excellent one than that of burnt offering; and may signify the superior excellency of Christ's state of exaltation to that of his humiliation: in the latter, which the altar of burnt offering respected, he was made of no reput

(3) Thou shalt overlay it with pure gold. —Next to the Ark of the Covenant the most holy article of furniture contained either in the sanctuary or in its court was the altar of incense. It symbolised prayer in its general use ( Psalm 141:2 ; Luke 1:10 ), and it symbolised expiation in the purpose whereto it was to be applied on certain occasions, as when the high priest had sinned in his official capacity ( Leviticus 4:3-12 ), or when the whole congregation had sinned through inadvertence ( Leviticus 4:13-21 ). It was, therefore, “most holy to the Lord.” Hence, its materials were to be the same with those of the ark of the covenant, and its place was to be directly opposite the ark, near to it, but on the outer side of the vail ( Exodus 40:5 ). A crown of gold round about.—Comp. what is said of the table of shewbread (Exodus 25:24). In both cases a raised rim or edging is meant, which would prevent what was on the top from falling off.

Exodus 37:25-28 ; Exodus 40:26-27 . The altar of incense was to be a casing of boards of shittim wood Exodus 25:5 , Exodus 25:18 inches square and three feet in height (taking the cubit as 18 inches), entirely covered with plates of gold. Four "horns" were to project upward at the corners like those of the altar of burnt-offering Exodus 27:2 . A crown or moulding of gold was to run round the top. On each of two opposite sides there was to be a gold ring through which the staves were to be put when it was moved from place to place.

3 . pure gold ] see on Exodus 25:3 . From being thus overlaid wholly (except at the bottom) with gold, it was also called the golden altar ( Exodus 39:38 , Exodus 40:5 ; Exodus 40:26 , Numbers 4:11 ). sides ] Heb. walls : so of the Bronze altar, Leviticus 1:15 ; Leviticus 5:9 . a crown ] a rim or moulding : see on Exodus 25:11 , and cf. Exodus 25:24 .

2-4. foursquare—the meaning of which is not that it was to be entirely of a cubical form, but that upon its upper and under surface, it showed four equal sides. It was twice as high as it was broad, being twenty-one inches broad and three feet six inches high. It had "horns"; its top or flat surface was surmounted by an ornamental ledge or rim, called a crown, and it was furnished at the sides with rings for carriage. Its only accompanying piece of furniture was a golden censer or pan, in which the incense was set fire to upon the altar. Hence it was called the altar of incense, or the "golden altar" [Ex 39:38; 40:26], from the profuse degree in which it was gilded or overlaid with the precious metal. This splendor was adapted to the early age of the church, but in later times, when the worship was to be more spiritual, the altar of incense is prophetically described as not of gold but of wood, and double the size of that in the tabernacle, because the church should be vastly extended (Mal 1:11).

The Altar of Incense and Incense-Offering bring the directions concerning the sanctuary to a close. What follows, from Exodus 30:11-31:17 , is shown to be merely supplementary to the larger whole by the formula "and Jehovah spake unto Moses," with which every separate command is introduced (cf. Exodus 30:11 , Exodus 30:17 , Exodus 30:22 , Exodus 30:24 , Exodus 31:1 , Exodus 31:12 ). Exodus 30:1-6 (cf. Exodus 37:25-28). Moses was directed to make an altar of burning of incense (lit., incensing of incense), of acacia-wood, one cubit long and one broad, four-cornered, two cubits high, furnished with horns like the altar of burnt-offering (Exodus 27:1-2), and to plate it with pure gold, the roof (גּג) thereof (i.e., its upper side or surface, which was also made of wood), and its walls round about, and its horns; so that it was covered with gold quite down to the ground upon which it stood, and for this reason is often called the golden altar (Exodus 39:38; Exodus 40:5, Exodus 40:26; Numbers 4:11).